A sampling of the very unique ice cream flavors, custom made for the restaurant in the style of signature desserts at the owners’ other eateries, including odd choices like Hot Carrot Habanero and Banana Salted Caramel. (Photo: Larry Olmsted)

The scene: While it has not quite reached the fervor of barbecue, food trucks or wood fired pizza, fried chicken is hot right now, riding the widespread trend of upscaled comfort foods. As a passionate fried chicken fan (I once declared it my death-row meal) who not long ago had to make pilgrimages for this column to oily temples like Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans and Gus's Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis to get the real thing, this is a good thing. Except that many current experiments are not successes. Gourmet eateries have scrambled to add fried chicken dishes nationwide -- ethnic restaurants have put Indian, Korean and other spins on the Southern favorite, and more traditional fried chicken specific restaurants have popped up from L.A. to Philadelphia. But like top-shelf barbecue, standout fried chicken is very simple on paper and very elusive in practice. I've visited several recent newcomers, including three different ones just in New York City, and so far Bromberg Brothers Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken is the best.

The namesake brothers have brought us more than a dozen varied Blue Ribbon eateries in New York, London and Las Vegas, ranging from their flagship brasserie to first-rate sushi parlors to a beer garden. The new (7 months) Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken is the most casual, with a fast food self-serve setting clearly intended as a laboratory for a possible chain roll out in the style of Shake Shack or Colorado's wildly successful Larkburger. Located on a corner in the East Village, the place is simple, glassed in so you see the entire interior as you approach, with a counter where you order set at a right angle to the open kitchen where you pick up your food, served in paper boats on metal trays. The feel is fast food but sleeker, with lots of stainless steel surfaces and white tiles, with white coated metal chairs and plain steel tables, each adorned with a napkin dispenser and large selection of house sauces. Most of the day the atmosphere is calm, but after midnight, when the many nearby bars and clubs start letting out, the restaurant is often slammed until its 2 a.m. closing. The chicken itself is displayed in warming trays behind the pick-up counter, just as it would be at KFC or Popeye's, but this poultry is a world apart.

Reason to visit: Fried chicken, chicken burger, ice cream.

The food: The first thing you notice about the chicken is the breading, unusually dark in color, heavily textured, very crunchy and delicious. It is crisp and dry, not at all oily, leaving your fingers relatively clean by fried chicken standards, yet the interior is succulent. There is something odd about the breading and after several different erroneous guesses, our party, including a chef friend, asked. The key that the Bromberg siblings borrowed from their Jewish grandma is matzo meal, which is added to flour and enhances the crunchy, craggy texture. The chicken itself is sourced from farms in the mid-Atlantic, and each piece is dredged in egg white only, then dipped in the flour-matzo combo and fried in soy oil. Blue Ribbon insists this process seals in the moisture, and it seems to be onto something. Unlike most Southern-style fried chicken, the seasoning, which is flavorful, is added only after the cooking process is completed so its sits on, rather than in, the coating.

Fried chicken comes in 2 and 4-piece meals (with fries and cole slaw), in large family style platters, and by the piece. It is the star here, but there is more. The big surprise is the chicken burger, something I normally need my arm twisted to even try. Unlike the standard tasteless slabs of white boneless breast meat or fried discs masquerading as "burgers," this patty is ground dark meat chicken in the style of an actual burger, and is shockingly good - it really tastes like chicken, The toppings are perfect, in my case goat cheese and arugula, though The Pit, with cheddar, bacon and BBQ sauce, is the bestseller.

The other two notables are the wings and fried chicken livers. The wings are breaded and very tasty, with a slightly spicy bite but not overpowering, covered with delicious high quality crumbled bleu cheese rather than dipping sauce. They are very good wings, but given their similarity to the even-better fried chicken, I'd probably skip them. The livers come covered in a heap of caramelized onions and are good – if you like chicken livers – but very, very rich. The first one is tasty, the second starts to overwhelm your taste buds, and finishing the substantial order yourself is a Man-Vs.-Food-worthy challenge of indulgence.

Sauce is a big part of the formula here and the table had six choices, including barbecue, hot sauce and four flavored honeys (wildflower, chipotle, wasabi and mustard). Honey on fried chicken isn't commonplace, but it is an excellent pairing, with these varieties allowing each diner to control the heat level. The chipotle with just a bit of heat was our consensus favorite, though spice fans will like the wasabi. The sides are all good, but none great. The best were the fries and skillet corn with bacon, loaded with lots of real bacon. The fries are very thin, almost matchstick style, but like the chicken, perfectly cooked, crisp but not overly so. Both the pickled cucumbers and spicy slaw had less flavor than expected.

The final step is dessert, which should not be skipped. The brothers take signature desserts from their other eateries and transform them into frozen flavors, custom made by Steve's ice cream in Brooklyn. They change frequently and some are pretty bizarre, like hot carrot habanero, but the quality is excellent and our favorite was banana salted caramel. Blue Ribbon also has an eclectic selection of gourmet soft drinks, Mexican Coke and Sprite, along with reasonably priced beers, mostly local. While at the higher end of the fast food chicken price spectrum, it's still very reasonable for the Big Apple.